Farmers in Cambria County met with local and state representatives to talk about issues facing the agriculture industry and how legislation can address their concerns.

“My grandfather used to say, if you complain about farmers don’t talk with your mouth full,” said Carissa Westrick, Director of Business Development at Vale Wood Farms.

Westrick is a sixth generation dairy farmer. Tuesday morning, she joined other farmers from Cambria County along with local and state representatives to discuss legislative issues facing the agriculture industry.

“It is the number one industry in Cambria County and in our region. And it’s the number one industry in our state,” said Marty Yahner, Governmental Relations Director for the Cambria County Farm Bureau.

This year’s biggest issues were taxes, environmental regulations and state budget and pension funding.

“The unfunded liability of our state pension grows to $70 billion, it has to be paid someday. And farmers are the biggest property tax payers in PA on our land that we own. So those property tax increases affect us,” Yahner said.

“We need to go back and figure out way of funding schools that’s based on the ability to pay, rather than something you have no control over. It hurts the senior citizen who’s on a fixed income as badly as it hurts a farmer,” said Rep. Bryan Barbin, (D) 71st District.

Farm Bureau and state representatives said the issues that face farmers also impact everyone else because legislation can affect the supply and cost of food.

“Farmers, we’re only two percent of the population in this nation, but yet we feed everyone,” said Yahner. 

Nationally, farmers addressed increasing trade, farm bill legislation and supporting immigration reform to fill the farming workforce gap.

“It’s so important for our elected officials to realize that it’s more than just local issues that impact farmers, even at a local level,” said Westrick.

Some legislation to address farmers’ concerns is in the works, including welfare program reform to require able-bodied individuals to seek active employment. Farmers said they hope representatives will address their other concerns in the next sessions.